MILFORD - DeWitt Tri County’s second-seeded Lady Trojans earned a berth in the Southern Nebraska Conference tournament championship game Thursday, downing Sutton, 35-33, in the semifinals at Milford.

The tournament’s No. 1 seed, however, will be absent from the tournament final as top-seeded Fairfield-Sandy Creek fell to Superior, 53-41.

Tri County will take on Superior Saturday at 6 p.m. for the Southern Nebraska Conference crown, while Sutton and Sandy Creek will play for third-place honors at 4:15 p.m.

In boys conference play, Wilber-Clatonia defeated Utica-Centennial, 48-36, in one semifinal and top-seeded Milford downed David City, 51-45, in the other.

Wilber-Clatonia and Milford will meet in the tournament’s championship game Saturday at 7:45 p.m. in Milford, while David City and Centennial will play for third place at 4:15 p.m.

Lady Trojan coach Bryce Simpson said the team’s win over Sutton was “very intense.”

“It was a very intense game and our girls never really got rattled,” Lady Trojan coach Bryce Simpson said. “Even though we didn’t score a lot of points, I was very happy with how well we played on offense.

“We were patient and really waited for the good shots.”

The Lady Trojans led at the end of the first quarter, 7-4, was were outscored in the second period by Sutton and trailed 18-16 at halftime.

Tri County rallied to tie the game at 26 by the end of the third quarter.

“Our half-court defense was very good tonight,” Simpson said.. “We had a game plan and sticking to it paid off in the end.”

With 10 seconds left in the game, and the score tied at 33, Sutton in-bounded the ball at mid-court. A steal by the Tri County defense led to an outlet pass to Shelby Zimmerman, who was fouled on the breakaway. Zimmerman hit both free throws to put the Lady Trojans up by two, with six seconds left. Jamie Van Kirk tried a last second half-court shot, but it went wide, sealing the victory for the Lady Trojans.

Zimmerman led Tri County in scoring with 15 points. She also had a team-high five steals.

Katy Pflanz led in rebounds with five, while Sydney Holtmeier led with three assists.

“We had so many girls contribute in so many different ways,” said Simpson. “It was a total team effort and a big win for this team.”

Sutton    4    14    8               7-33

Tri County    7    9    10               9-35

Tri County  ( 35 )

Sydney Holtmeier two, Sarah Genrich seven, Sammie Garrison one,  Katey Pflanz eight, Shelby Zimmerman 15, Lauren Cammack two.

Three-point goals: Tri County (Genrich one). Rebounds: Tri County (Garrison one, Pflanz five, Zimmerman four, Cammack four).  Assists: Tri County (Holtmeier three, Garrison one, Emma Knust one, Zimmerman one, Cammack one). Steals: Tri County (Zimmerman five, Pflanz two, Kara Riesen one, Garrison one, Genrich one, Holtmeier one). Blocked shots: Tri County (Cammack one).